Whitley Co Animal Rescue Becomes Regional Mission

Friday afternoon, the Knox-Whitley Animal Shelter needed all hands on deck. For the third day, the shelter continued to take in pets from one Whitley County animal hoarding case.

57 animals in all, it's the most the Knox-Whitley Animal Shelter (KWAS) ever received from one home.

"That's very overwhelming. We're a small shelter and we stay full," said Deanna Myers, KWAS Director.

Myers says the dogs started coming in Wednesday evening. Their ages range from 10 years to 10 minutes.

"We have a mother dog giving birth as we speak right now," said Myers.

The Whitley County owner called animal control to surrender the pets.

"They did the right thing. They did reach out for help, and that's the main concern. People need to realize that the more you have, you cannot properly take care of them," said Myers.

It's so many pets, KWAS can't properly take care of them either.

"We've all kind of been sharing the burden of saving as many as we can," said Stacey Edge, Wagging Hearts Rescue.

Edge drove down from Chicago. She'll help bring the dogs to shelters as far as Wisconsin. Edge says 11 different rescue groups are helping. She says the dogs are scared, but want to trust somebody.

"They want your love, each one of them. They're looking for a little connection, and you just can't give it all to each one of them, and they're little needy paws and their eyes tell you the story. It's sad. It's heart wrenching actually."

The shelter says the pets are in good shape physically, but they may need a couple of weeks to decompress.